a MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT, AND COMMUNICATIONS
industry guide to thinking forward for the year ahead
Executive Summary
financial services
HEALTHCARE
RETAIL
WHO WE TALKED TO:
105 leaders in media, entertainment, and communications organizations
Customer experience (CX) is rapidly catalyzing change for financial services in 2020, yet only about one quarter of leaders in the industry feel very prepared to address this top priority. Overcoming barriers to preparedness and operationalizing the experience will require financial services firms to cast aside functional silos and embrace matrixed, horizontal ways of working. In this new organizational paradigm, financial services leaders must move their attention to aligning people, organizational design, and culture to deliver the ideal experience.
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Accelerated momentum around CX
Powering efficiency through people
and ways of working
Prioritizing the experience for
competitive differentiation
“Excited,” (52%), “energized,” (34%), and “proud” (32%) top the list of MEC leadership sentiment for the year ahead, with the percentage describing themselves as “excited” increasing significantly year over year.
As MEC doubles down on innovation, there’s concern about delivering new programs cost effectively and justifying recent acquisitions with an eye towards costs.
New competitors is the top external catalyst driving change in strategic priorities, likely driving the strong momentum around innovation and digital.
Addressing new competitor pressures (75%) falls just outside of the top tier of priorities but is the only priority that increased significantly in importance over the previous year.
Taking Action
How media, entertainment, and communications can capitalize on these market trends in the year ahead:
1. Double down on ways of working.
Customers will not be willing to pay for new innovations (e.g., 5G) unless they see measurable value, so motivating and incentivizing teams to generate new value sources is critical. Configure cross-functional touch points, communication channels allowing visibility and information-sharing, and governance forums that enable agile ways of working and more rapid decision-making. Restructure KPIs to align to a more holistic customer journey.
2. Accelerate and solidify the adoption of change.
Adopting agile at scale and breaking down siloed functional barriers requires a culture shift and a change in underlying behavior. Apply the design thinking principles of empathy, iteration, and co-creation to engage employees, help them understand their role in the change, and drive more productive change outcomes.
3. Justify investments in CX.
To combat competitive pressures and deliver on customer expectations while managing costs, apply Experience
Economics to prioritize the CX investments that will move the needle on both customer value and business value. A systematic approach to identifying CX activities will eliminate investments that fail to move the needle on these imperatives.
Functions:
36% IT
18% Marketing
16% Operations
14% Sales
6% HR
6% Finance/Accounting
5% Research & Development
Levels:
24% President/C-suite
29% EVP/SVP/VP
9% Sr. Director
18% Director
21% Sr. Manager
2018 Revenue:
$1B-$5B: 45%
$5B-$10B: 19%
$10B-$20B: 20%
$20B+: 16%
Bolstered by positive industry sentiment, product/service innovation is the name of the game in the media, entertainment, and communications (MEC) industry for 2020. There’s also compounding pressure to deliver new innovations efficiently and with an eye on costs. In this climate, MEC leaders can achieve more with their current workforce and unlock new efficiencies through reimagined ways of working. To preserve an efficiency focus while tapping into customer experience (CX) as a differentiation strategy, MEC leaders have an opportunity to identify, justify, and prioritize CX investments with a clear business case.
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Top priorities for the year
Product/Service Innovation:
84% cite as a strategic priority; 20% feel very prepared to address
1
2
Operational Efficiency:
83% cite as a strategic priority; 22% feel very prepared to address
3
Digital Capabilities:
81% cite as a strategic priority; 37% feel very prepared to address
Two of the top three priorities center on innovation and the digital capabilities that enable it, such as 5G and streaming capabilities.
Excitement about innovation
and enabling capabilities
Product/service innovation:
84% prioritizing
Trends suggest that MEC leaders may feel confident they’re making traction on innovation priorities.
Attainability surrounding 5G commercialization rose from 38% very attainable in our 2019 study to 43% very attainable in 2020.
Obstacles surrounding people may be driving a focus on efficiency
to address resource challenges.
People/resources is tied for the top internal barrier to addressing strategic priorities (70%).
Labor availability is the No. 1 external barrier to addressing strategic priorities (63%).
In addition, MEC leaders understand the fundamental importance of ways of working in overcoming the functional silos
that can inhibit efficiency and impede product/service innovation.
Cross-functional integration/collaboration (58%) is tied for the most important factor when configuring teams for transformation.
Leaders can focus on their people
to generate new efficiency and promote ways of working that enable innovation as the top priority. 42% of MEC leaders believe talent management and development are very attainable to address.
Rather than planning for their competitive reality today, MEC companies have an opportunity to examine a range of potential future scenarios related to the competitive, regulatory, and broader market environment. From there, they can focus on identifying probable futures to inform present-day decisions.
With customer experience (CX) being the second highest factor catalyzing change in the industry, CX capabilities are perceived as a differentiation strategy amid competitive pressures.
95% of MEC leaders perceive that CX presents a competitive advantage.
To advance CX while maintaining a focus on efficiency and cost reduction, CX investments should be grounded in insights with a clear financial business case—one measured in terms of value to the business as well as the customer.
50% of MEC leaders believe
CX is very attainable to address.
Only 5% of MEC leaders see it
as very costly to resolve.
While MEC outlook is generally positive, only 20% of leaders feel very prepared to address product/service innovation as the highest priority.
MEC leaders’ transformation focuses are aligned to their priorities for the year ahead. Digital (54%) and data & technology (54%) are tied for the top 2020 transformation areas.
Improving preparedness to address innovation and transformation commands a focus on developing the required skillsets within the workforce.
As a result, the second-highest priority is operational efficiency (83%).
Cost reduction is the No. 1 internal catalyst driving change in the industry (48%).
To advance CX while maintaining a focus on efficiency and cost reduction, CX investments should be grounded in insights with a clear financial business case—one measured in terms of value to the business as well as the customer.
CX can lay a sustainable and feasible foundation for competitive differentiation.
While MEC outlook is generally positive, only 20% of leaders feel very prepared to address product/service innovation as the highest priority.
MEC leaders’ transformation focuses are aligned to their priorities for the year ahead. Digital (54%) and data & technology (54%) are tied for the top 2020 transformation areas.
Accelerated momentum around CX
Improving preparedness to address innovation and transformation commands a focus on developing the required skillsets within the workforce.
As a result, the second-highest priority is operational efficiency (83%).
Cost reduction is the No. 1 internal catalyst driving change in the industry (48%)
CX can lay a sustainable and feasible foundation for competitive differentiation.
Digital capabilities:
81% prioritizing
Digital capabilities:
81% prioritizing
of business
leaders
Of Business Leaders
Of Business Leaders
of business
leaders
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Agile ways of working are critical to delivering more responsive products by pushing decision-making closer to the level of the customer. 100% of MEC leaders believe that agile ways of working present a competitive advantage.
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Agile ways of working are critical to delivering more responsive products by pushing decision-making closer to the level of the customer. 100% of MEC leaders believe that agile ways of working present a competitive advantage.
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Of Business Leaders
of business
leaders
of business
leaders
Of Business Leaders
Of Business Leaders
of business
leaders
For additional information and to download the 2020 Beacon white paper.
Download the 2020 Beacon White paper
Download the 2020 Beacon White paper